Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff
Address
Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul, St. Dyfrig, St. Telio and St. Euddogwy, Cathedral Close, Cardiff CF5 2LATheme
Overview
Llandaff has the finest collection of stained glass amongst Welsh cathedrals. The major Victorian restoration introduced works by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co, with designs by William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Maddox-Brown. A Pre-Raphaelite sensibility can also be seen in a window by W.F. Dixon, which has recently been largely hidden by the new organ.
Later good twentieth century work includes windows by Sylvester Sparrow and Geoffrey Webb. After the Second World War there were gifts of sixteenth-century continental glass.
For further information see: Stained Glass in Wales – Llandaff Cathedral
Highlight
East window above the high altarArtist, maker and date
Designed by John Piper and interpreted in glass by Patrick Reyntiens, 1959Reason for highlighting
This is a three-light window depicting the three figures at Emmaus, with a roundel above depicting the walk to Emmaus. The success of the window was summed up by Moelwyn William Merchant as a ‘metamorphosis the creative artist alone dare attempt, and this window is a triumph of creation’. (Quoted in Patrick Reyntiens Catalogue of Stained Glass by Libby Horner)
Artist/maker notes
John Egerton Christmas Piper CH (1903–1992) was an English painter, printmaker and designer of stained-glass windows, and both opera and theatre sets. He began working in stained glass in partnership with Patrick Reyntiens, whom he had met through John Betjeman, from 1950
Sources:
John Piper and stained glass by June Osborne (Sutton Publishing, 1997) which includes the text of John Piper’s book Stained Glass: art or anti-art (Studio Vista, 1968)
John Piper on Wikipedia
Patrick Reyntiens OBE (1925-2021) studied fine art at Edinburgh College of Art. He began his career in stained glass with an apprenticeship with Eddie Nuttgens, and flourished when he met and collaborated with John Piper.
Together they redefined the medium in the post war era, working on the Baptistery Window, Coventry Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral as well as numerous ecclesiastical and secular commissions in Britain and USA.
He has also been an influential teacher both through the arts centre he ran at Burleighfield House, with his wife, Anne Bruce, from 1963 to 1976, and through the 10 years he spent as Head of Fine Art at the Central School of Art and Design.
Sources:
Patrick Reyntiens website
From Coventry to Cochem: The Art of Patrick Reyntiens, DVD, Reyntiens Glass Studio
Patrick Reyntiens Catalogue of Stained Glass by Libby Horner (Sansom &Co, 2013)
Comments by
Martin Crampin